Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up

by Koshin Paley Ellison

$10.95

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Author: Koshin Paley Ellison

Publisher: Wisdom Publications

Paperback:
ISBN 10: 1614295255
ISBN 13: 978-1614295259

An inspiring book that will help readers rediscover their values and discover a way to truly live life to the fullest.

The Dalai Lama on Wholehearted: “Intimacy is based on the willingness to open ourselves to many others, to family, friends, and even strangers, forming genuine and deep bonds based on common humanity. Koshin Paley Ellison’s teachings share the way forward into a path of connection, compassion, and intimacy.”

Each of us has an enormous capacity for love—a deep well of attention and care that we can offer to ourselves and others. With guidance that is both simple and wholly transformative, Koshin Paley Ellison, Zen teacher and psychotherapist, shows us how to uncover it: pay attention, be of service, and be with others.

With this inspiring and down-to-earth book, drawn from the Zen precepts and illustrated with anecdotes from Koshin’s own life and practice, you’ll learn how to

explore and investigate with your own core values,
identify the mental habits that could be unconsciously hurting yourself and others, and
overcome isolation.

Each chapter closes with a contemplation to help integrate the teachings into your life.

This book is about getting back in touch with your values, so you can live energetically, authentically, and lovingly. This an invitation to close the gaps we create between ourselves and others—to wake up to ourselves and the world around us.

It’s time to live wholeheartedly.

Review

“Intimacy is based on the willingness to open ourselves to many others, to family, friends, and even strangers, forming genuine and deep bonds based on common humanity. Koshin Paley Ellison’s teachings share the way forward into a path of connection, compassion, and intimacy.” —His Holiness the Dalai Lama

“It seems that in the twenty-first century, more and more people are spending their lives in isolation from each other—not the isolation that comes from living alone, though this seems to be a growing problem in some societies, but the isolation that is the result of creating artificial barriers between ourselves and others.

Koshin Paley Ellison has written a manual for personal growth and change based on a contemporary interpretation of Buddhist refuge and precepts, making it accessible to everyone, not just those interested in or practicing Buddhism. Using anecdotes, quotes, and reflective questioning, he prompts us to become aware of the barriers we have erected around ourselves and suggests ways by which we can dismantle them. His message is one of hope: that through personal transformation we can develop courage, open-heartedness, and compassion in our relationships with others, and enrich our own lives." —His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje

"This jewel of a book is packed with inspiring and timeless wisdom, pointing us toward freedom. Practical and delightful, each page is nourishing, leaving you more tender and more connected to humanity. This is a book for everyone.” —Ruth King, author of Mindful of Race: Transforming Racism From The Inside Out

“It is difficult to be honest and simple, and in today’s world it is so necessary and healing. Koshin uses the Buddhist precepts to stay real and available, which makes his writing valuable and crucial. His commitment to transparency makes it possible for me to show up as my true self so that pure communication is exposed as the recipe for being alive and joyful.” —Rodney Yee, yoga teacher and author of Moving Toward Balance

“The subtitle of this wonderful book says it all: ‘Slow down, Help Out, Wake Up.’ In a writing style that is elegant and eminently readable, Koshin Paley Ellison illuminates a path of connection, care, and love. The depth of his experience as a Zen teacher and practitioner reveals itself throughout this work, showing us how to live a wholehearted life.” —Joseph Goldstein, author of Mindfulness: A Practical Guide to Awakening

“Koshin Paley Ellison’s conversational tone is clear and flowing. Wholehearted feels like sipping cool water during a visit with a good friend. With examples from personal experiences that reveal his unpretentious humanity and good-natured humor, Koshin makes the ancient wisdom of Zen feel intuitive for our contemporary minds.” —Ira Byock, MD, author of Dying Well and The Best Care Possible, active emeritus professor of medicine, the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth

“Wholehearted is good medicine for a healthy life. Inspiring, heartfelt, and wise, it offers a fresh, personal, and authentic integration of Buddhist fundamentals. A kind guide for meeting life’s challenges with more equanimity, resilience, and compassion.” —Frank Ostaseski, author, The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully

“This book is aptly named, as Koshin Paley Ellison has clearly put his whole heart into bringing this gem into the world. Seamlessly weaving together stories, teachings, and wisdom, Wholehearted serves to open and transform the reader's heart and mind, moving more and more into service of, and a deeply and connected relationship with, the world.” —Judson Brewer, MD, PhD, associate professor and director of Research and Innovation of the Mindfulness Center at Brown University, and author of The Craving Mind

“Koshin Paley Ellison, a monk living in New York City, reinterprets the timeless teachings of Zen Buddhism in a contemporary way that is conversational, insightful, and unexpectedly irreverent! Each chapter invites the reader into self-reflection through Paley Ellison’s personal stories, which are smart, witty, and vulnerable, often showcasing his own mistakes. Wholehearted is a beautiful, mystical piece of work that is also timely, offering important solutions as we live through a deeply polarized time in history.” —Shakil Choudhury, author of Deep Diversity: Overcoming Us vs. Them

“There are SO many books about Zen and Buddhism. This is one I would recommend. Wholehearted is different—in a very good way. It makes you smile in self-recognition. It flows in directions you don’t expect. It pulls you forward into the next chapter, with its perfect seasoning of accounts of the author’s own times of learning—the way we all do—through his missteps along the path. It makes the precepts intriguing. Give it as a gift. It will make someone happy.” —Jan Chozen Bays, Roshi, MD, teacher at Zen Community of Oregon, and author of Mindfulness on the Go and Mindful Eating

About the Author

Koshin Paley Ellison, MFA, LMSW, DMIN, co-founded the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care, a non-profit which offers contemplative approaches to care through education, direct service, and Zen meditation practice. Paley Ellison has served as the co-director of Contemplative Care Services for the Department of Integrative Medicine and as the chaplaincy supervisor for the Pain and Palliative Care Department at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center, where he also served on the Medical Ethics Committee. He is currently on the faculty of the University of Arizona Medical School's Center for Integrative Medicine's Integrative Medicine Fellowship, and he is a visiting professor at the McGovern Center for Humanities and Ethics, of the University of Texas Health Science Center of Houston Medical School.

He is the co-editor of Awake at the Bedside: Contemplative Teachings on Palliative and End-of-Life Care (Wisdom Publications, 2016). He's also the co-author of "Rituals and Resilience" in Creating Spiritual and Psychological Resilience (Routledge, 2009) and the author of "The Jeweled Net: What Dogen and the Avatamsaka Sutra Can Offer Us as Spiritual Caregivers" in The Arts of Contemplative Care: Pioneering Voices in Buddhist Chaplaincy and Pastoral Work (Wisdom Publications, 2012). His work has been featured in the New York Times, PBS, Tricycle and others. Through his training at the Jungian Psychoanalytic Association as well as clinical contemplative training at both Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center and NewYork Presbyterian Medical Center which culminated in his role as an ACPE Certified Educator, chaplain, and Jungian psychotherapist. He began his formal Zen training in 1987, and he is a recognized Soto Zen Teacher by the American Zen Teachers Association, White Plum Asanga, and Soto Zen Buddhist Association. He serves on the Board of Directors at the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care and Barre Center for Buddhist Studies.

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Wholehearted: Slow Down, Help Out, Wake Up